This study investigates why young professionals choose to leave public universities in Vietnam. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 16 former lecturers, researchers, and administrative specialists, the study explores exit not merely as a response to dissatisfaction, but as a moral and symbolic act. The findings reveal three major themes: perceived value misalignment and moral fatigue, blocked career development pathways, and the reimagining of career identity beyond the university. Using Hirschman’s Exit–Voice–Loyalty framework and the concept of moral disaffection, the study shows how institutional cultures marked by hierarchy, performative autonomy, and bureaucratic inertia can erode organizational legitimacy in the eyes of young professionals. These insights contribute to organizational sociology by reframing exit as ethical disengagement, and offer implications for higher education policy and leadership in rapidly reforming systems.